The only thing identical about these two is their birthday...

By the way... they have the same amount of food only Tommy opted to put his toast in his apple sauce.
I laugh when people tell me they can't tell my boys apart because obviously they are identical. I think many people do not realize that twins that are the same gender CAN BE fraternal (which is what we were blessed with). If I don't know the person then I will ususally just nod in agreement- I find there is no reason to explain that Joey's eyes are hazel and Tommy's blue and the Joey is a neat freak and Tommy loves the mess. I find it equally amusing when people look at the boys in the shopping cart and say "So they're not twins..." because they notice the 4 pound difference in weight and that Tommy is also a bit taller and at that point Joey is silently starring them down trying to figure them out. We do love the challenges and joys of these two characters.
In other news, we are still in Purcellville and Jake is still working at Harris Corp. in Sterling. I spend my time trying to keep fit so I can keep up with these two little men. I am in the midst of attempting to figure out what to do with the garden (I know I need to winterize it BUT I am not sure if I am going to transplant some plants first. Decisions Decisions.) Hope you are all well.

18 months...

18 months and counting... seems like all my life has become a case of counting. How old the boys are now, how many teeth they have, how long they are, how many words they can say, how long their time out is (no more than 60 seconds), how long until we go to the playground, how long until Dad gets home and they go play ball in the backyard, how many times they have to breath in their inhalers. It has gotten to the point where if they don't feel like creating a big fuss they will count with me- but as they are only 18 months it comes out "unh, doo, hee..." In case you are curious about 'the count': Tommy is over 27 pounds and Joey is over 23. Tommy has 12 teeth and Joey has 8. They both speak over 15 words- like ball, cheese, hi, bye, momma, dadda, yea, wow, go, no (although not often on this one), up, eat, out, hot, and shoe. Their little personalities are not so little and I am sure a huge shocker is that they are fiercly stubborn (I have no idea who they got that from). They also love playing (most of the time together), making animal sounds especially elephants and ducks. I love that they give hugs and kisses now. We do love the counting.

BEWARE! Objects in picture are more dangerous than they appear.

So the boys have figured out how to take off their diapers- danger, danger! Accordingly the boys are not given the opportunity to toddle in only diapers- but have at least diapers and onesies on at all times... except after bath times and that is Jake and my way of playing Russian Roulette. We let them dry out their little bottoms before clothing them again and except for once where there was a bit of a poo disaster it has worked out fine. Enough of the poo talk- although I kind of feel as though this is what consumes my life. Bubbles, animals, reading AND poo. Oh well I am enjoying this stage of their life because it is full of new words and discoveries. For example both boys say Momma which rather makes my heart melt. Tommy used to only say my name when he wanted food and it was always, "Um...mom" and Joey was just not saying anything. They also say eat and go... which can be cute depending on what I am trying to get done. So that's my life in a nutshell at this time.

Been busy

AFTER BEFORE

So my first blog I talked about all the things I wanted to do to my house... I thought I would show you guys what I've done.

I painted the front door and shutter blue, we re caulked the windows and door some of the trim paint. My plants came up and I added 6 hybrid rose bushes at of the posts on the fence line. Oh and we did a huge mulch and rock run... the area in front of my fence is now a gravel lined parking area instead of a grass and weed lined mess. Oh yeah... all in a few months work.

Not to mention we finally framed up and hung the beautiful stained glass window that Hilary made for me a year ago. She has mad glass cutting skills.

Recently I have been getting ready to teach Ellie my US history course in an abbreviated month long version. I am way excited but also nervous because sometimes teaching family can be a miserable experience for all involved but as I have made the culminating project a scavenger hunt through D.C. I think it should be fun.

Also I entered my boys into the Parents Cover contest. I don't think that other people's ratings have any bearing on the contest but they encourage having your friends look at the pictures you've uploaded and rate them. You had to enter 6 photos per kid and my initial entry won't count because you have to enter twins separately. Oh well, so I have three links. The boys together http://www.parents.com/photos/photo-contests-1/cover-kid/805900097/, Tommy's entry http://www.parents.com/photos/photo-contests-1/cover-kid/862400034/, and Joey's entry http://www.parents.com/photos/photo-contests-1/cover-kid/862400035/. The contest closes June 24th... if you guys wouldn't mind going and checking out the photos and rating them (just in case that matters) that would be awesome. Hope life is going well in your world. It crazy as always in mine.

A random post

So I figured I would update my blog with new photos of my boys- they love to wrestle!









We had an easter egg hunt in the living room- the boys kind of got it... they loved the candy... can't say as I blame them.








In my last post I included the pictures of the cake but I forgot to include the end results... Tommy likes chocolate... a lot!

The boys are walking, although Joey has the cutest walk it reminds me of a little chimp. Tommy on the other hand walks until his head throws him off- literally.

They say cute words like Tommy's 'Happy... Baby...' and Joey's 'Hi dada' and growl when he sees tigers or lions. My new favorite thing is all the giggling as they play with each other... I need to figure out how to upload video and then I will upload the video I got today of the boys playing chase in the living room. So cute and fun.

1st Birthday!

So the boys' had their first birthday. The official party was on Sunday March 22nd at my parents. We did an impromptu cupcake party on their actual birthday with Jake's parents via web chat- which was fun, they opened presents and ate some cupcake. On the 22nd of March I made Corn beef and Cabbage and Cornbread for dinner (partly because of their St. Patrick's Day birthday and partly because I love to eat corn beef and cabbage). I made the boys their own small cake because I've decided they shouldn't have to share their cake. So because of their little shoes that have a monkey and dragon and because Joey growls like a dragon and Tommy hangs on to you like a monkey I though those would be fun . So I made two small flat cakes (actually I sketched out the pictures based on two designs I found on google that I liked) and with some butter cream icing, food coloring and green sprinkles for the dragon, and chocolate icing, and chocolate sprinkles for the monkey, the two cakes were done. Joey seemed only mildly impressed but Tommy went to town once he tasted the chocolate icing- I mean double fisted. I will upload the video today and put it on here- it was hilarious at the time, hopefully it still is. We got them little cards and then the following weekend picked up toys for them at the mothers of multiple sale.

Welcome to my world.

THIS IS MY LIFE. So we have entered that all too awkward phase, my boys want to walk... at times think they can walk usually just before crashing down. They climb up everything to get to a standing position, generally to attempt to grab the only thing in the room I don't want them playing with (like the computer or my big toe- Tommy has 5 big chompers so it's concerning). Meanwhile I am left to debate whether or not to save their noggins from the hard wood or let them learn to hold on better. Last week I decided enough was enough and so we bought a rug... which turned out to not be quite enough so a couple of days later we bought foam padding for under the rug. Alas my boys should survive their toddler days without too much brain damage. I might be a good mom after all.

Son of Rambow

So I have been marinating over this little movie (Son of Rambow)... I saw it on the previews under Netflix and thought I would give it a shot. Jake and I spent the first half of the movie saying- This movie is so weird and then suddenly it changed and we found it hilarious. The language is definitely questionable at times but the story is quietly brilliant. Okay enough of that... our boys have spent this week getting frustrated that they can't walk as well as they want and then falling over. So our living room (a.k.a. the boys' playroom) has changed yet again- this time we have bought a rug and foam padding to give the boys more cushion. Oh and I have had to child proof up another foot. It's a good thing these boys are so fun because they sure can be a lot of work.

Hello all!

Current (Below) - After (Right... hopefully- plus plants)
I was tempted to title this... 'you guys suck' but I am trying not to say that (suck) anymore- these little men of mine are sponges and so I opted for Hello all. Being as I didn't realize I was dropping the ball (thank you Candi for enlightening me) I have decided to give this a try- I am sure I will keep it up about as well as my 360 page. Although I do think these are a lot cuter and so that's fun. Anyway, I am bummed because I was feeling inspired to work on my house- including a trip to the Homer and it snowed today so it's officially still clean inside weather. Oh well my big plans for the house will have to wait- I am sure my little men don't mind.